


I’ll Take Care of You

by Natalia_Rogers, Natisalive



Category: Black Widow (Movie 2020), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Black Widow - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, I cried rereading it, Multi, Nat has PTSD, Natasha Romanov Feels, Natasha Romanov Has Issues, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Pre-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Sam and Natasha friendship, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson Friendship, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Tragedy, ngl the first part is super depressing, post Black Widow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23114266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natalia_Rogers/pseuds/Natalia_Rogers, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natisalive/pseuds/Natisalive
Summary: After surviving the snipers Natasha doesn’t know what to do so she calls Steve and Sam to come pick her up and take her with them. Angst with a hopeful ending.
Relationships: Natasha Romanov/Melina Vostokoff, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Yelena Belova/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 9
Kudos: 67





	I’ll Take Care of You

**Author's Note:**

> There are 2 songs that could possibly enhance the story.  
> The number in the story corresponds with these songs.  
> (1) Can You Hold Me by NF  
> (2) Easy by Camila Cabello

Natasha stood hunched over a sink in an average motel room collecting her thoughts. So many things were going through her head she thought she might explode. She tried to control her ragged breathing. Her hands, covered in blood and grime gripped the sink. The cuts on her face still flowing. She had thought about trying to stop the bleeding on her face but she needed to get control of herself first. Her mind flashed back to the events that had just happened. 

All four of them gathered in the wreckage, tired but happy. They had done it, they had won. Alexei held Melina close, she slunk her arm around his waist as they both held out their hands. It was invitation to be a family, a proper family. But Natasha still had doubts.

Natasha felt like smashing the mirror in front of her with her face. She almost did it but realized she probably shouldn’t tear up her hands anymore than they were. She couldn’t stop thinking of Yelena and that cursed vest.

Natasha felt the blood drain from her face. She felt like the energy was being sucked out of her as her shoulders slumped a bit. Yelena took off her vest. Natasha straightened and looked at her, there were already bullets imbedded in the vest. If Yelena didn’t have the vest on that meant no protection from gunshots. Natasha felt a streak of pain go through her as this possibility unfolded in her mind. 

Natasha leaned forward and pressed her head against the glass. Oh why oh why had she not been more forceful about Yelena wearing the vest. No one had been ready for the first shot. It came out of nowhere and hit Yelena straight in the chest. Sending her flying back. All Natasha could remember is that there was a lot blood and screaming and pain. She had flown down to try and catch Yelena but she had been too late. She always seemed to be too late. Natasha fell to the ground and closed her eyes hoping it would relieve some of the pain. It did not, it only brought back more flashbacks. 

Melina tried to get to Natasha and Yelena not thinking of the consequences. Alexei however was conscious any one of them could be next so he held her down and covered her body with his. That’s when more shots came. They seemed to come from every direction and for the first time in a long time, Natasha had no idea what to do. She just sat there holding Yelenas dying body, tears building up in her eyes and she rocked Yelena back and forth.

Natasha groaned and tried massaging her temples because the story only got worse.

Natasha wasn’t ready to hear Alexei scream like he did when multiple bullets lodged themselves into his torso. She could hear Melina begging for it to stop as she crawled up to look at Alexei. And as if by a miracle the bullets stopped. It got quiet so suddenly you could hear a pin drop. A wet cough broke through the silence and Natasha looked back down at Yelena. She looked up at Natasha with genuine fear in her eyes. Natasha wasn’t having much luck holding back the sob building in her throat as she watched her sister shift in pain.  
“I don’t want to die Nat.” Yelena said in a raspy voice before coughing again.

Yelena’s words still rang in Natasha’s ears, louder than she could bear. 

Alexei had died instantly, Natasha brushed some blonde hair out of Yelena’s face as she breathed her last breath and her body went limp. Natasha gently places the blonde’s head on the ground and closed her eyes, she and looked over at the other two. Natasha began to get up.

“Natalia. Don’t move.” Melina hissed.  
She obliged and watched as Melina also gently placed Alexei onto the ground and presses a kiss onto his temple, whispering something in Russian. Melina then started to pull out weapons. Natasha, still in shock, doesnt realize what she’s about to do until it is too late. Melina mouths “I love you” to Natasha before shooting up and aiming at the hidden snipers. Being a widow, her aim is true however, there are too many and before she can get to all of them, she gets fatally hit. Natasha can’t hold in the scream that had been threatening to break loose any long as she collapsed onto the ground beside Melina.  
“Natalia, you can’t save us anymore. Go to the ones you can. I learned this lesson the hard way, never neglect the ones you love.” Melina smiles fondly and brushed hair out of Nat’s face and the she was gone. They’re all gone, she has no more family. Natasha stood up ready to accept her fate. This is it. They’re gonna kill her too, it wouldn’t be all that bad, she’s going to die here with her family. She closed her eyes and waited for what felt like forever. She cautiously opened her eyes when she hears cars driving away. The snipers had left.  
“No. No no no please no.” She mumbled. She looked around her and just saw blood. Yelena, Alexei, Melina all laying lifeless before her. For some reason they had left Natasha alive.  
Natasha looks down and all she sees is her bloody hands. She doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to wash it off. She decides she needs to find a place to crash.  
Natasha got up and got up off the floor and stared in the mirror once more, hating that she was alive and the others weren’t. She slammed her fist against the sink and started to sob. When she finally got a hold of herself she felt intense pain shooting up her arm. She looked down and rolled her eyes, of course, she had broken her hand. Now how was she supposed to do anything with a broken hand. Natasha stumbled out to the bedroom and started to have a panic attack. Never neglect the ones you love. That didn’t make sense to her, all her family was dead. Steve. The name flashes in her mind and Natasha grabs for her phone with her good hand and dials.  
“Nat?”  
“Steve?” She said still trying to calm down.  
“Oh my gosh Nat are you ok?”  
“No. I’m not. Where are you? I’ll come find you.”  
“No Nat. Stay where you are I’ll come to you.”  
“No St-steve it’s n-not s-safe.” She stuttered trying time hold back more tears.  
“Well we have a safe house I can’t compromise the location. I’m already in the quinjet.”  
“Ok.” Natasha told him where to go. She gave him a location further from where she was so there were no issues with the snipers coming back. The only issue is she had forgotten how harsh the Russian climate is on a weak body. And with her energy and emotional levels tanked it didn’t take long for Natasha to succumb to her exhaustion. She collapsed a few miles away from the meeting point.  
****** (1)  
  
Steve jumped out of the quinjet and looked for Nat. He couldn’t find her, so he decided to look around, as he was walking around he saw a slumped over figure in the distance. Oh no Steve thought as he started to run towards the figure. Just as he assumed, the figure was her. As Steve knelt to pick her up Sam came up behind him, “Can I do anything?”  
Steve picked her up bridal style. She was completely unconscious, and therefore it was as if he was picking up a dead human. Gosh he hoped she wasn’t dead, he bent his head down and heard raggedy breathing.  
“Yeah.” Steve said grimly. “Can you position her in such a way that it’s easier for me to carry her? Be careful I think her one hand is broken.”  
Sam nodded and helped Steve position her so that her head was on his shoulder, they draped one arm over and around his neck. Then Sam gingerly picked up the arm with the broken hand and placed it on her torso. Then they started to walk towards the quinjet.  
“What do you think happened to her?” Sam asked.  
“I don’t know. But whatever it was...or is, it’s bad. You should’ve heard her on the phone. She sounded like she was completely broken.”  
“Oh.” Was all Sam could say.  
When they got to the quinjet Steve set her on his bed and looked at the unconscious form of his friend not knowing quite what to do next. Sam stood next to him, “Uh we could bandage the hand?”  
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Maybe get her out of these clothes though, I don’t know how with her hand, we might have to cut them off and give her a bath. Maybe sling her arm so her hand doesn’t get hurt more.”  
“Ok I’ll go get the bandaging materials. Do you still have scissors in here?”  
“Yeah.”  
Sam left and Steve went to a drawer and took out the scissors. He unzipped her suit as far as it would go and started cutting off the sleeves. Once that was done, he was easily able to take the whole thing off. Sam came back and looked at him. “Do you want to sling it while I hold her up?”  
“Yeah.”  
Steve sat her on his lap and held her head up while Sam secured the hand to make sure it wouldn’t flop around. He finished and asked, “Do you want help with washing her?”  
“It would get done more efficiently and take less time but, I think we shouldn’t both see everything, you know?”  
“Makes sense, I’ll make some soup and tea for when she wakes up, here are the other bandage materials if you want them.” Sam handed them to him.  
“Thanks Sam.”  
When Sam left Steve carried Natasha to the bathroom and made sure she was completely stripped down. He made sure the water was hot, rolled up his sleeves and placed her leaning against the wall. He turned off the water once the tub was halfway full and started to wash her off. As he cleaned off the blood, dirt and grime, he noticed all the cuts and bruises she had acquired not to mention the numerous scars on her abdominal area and back. He unbraided all of the little braids in her hair and grabbed a tiny brush he used to brush his hair and his beard. He used the brush to take all of the knots out of her hair until the brush rain clean through her hair. He then took some of his shampoo and lathered it in her hair before turning the water on and disconnecting the shower head so he could more easily wash all of the shampoo out. He did the same thing with conditioner before he turned off the water and drained the tub. Staying in the same position he ran the brush through her hair again and then started to French braid her hair. He didn’t know what he was going to dress her in but thankfully Sam had had the thought to place some clothes right outside the door. They had bought clothes for woman a few months back just in case Natasha decided to come join them, which she had hinted at before she left. The clothes Sam had laid came with a casual, almost pajama like, sweatshirt with matching sweatpants. Steve bandaged her hand more thoroughly by making a makeshift cast and got rid of the sling. He carried her to his bed and dressed her before tucking her into his bed, grabbing some dry clothes and leaving.  
“Get a little wet in there?” Sam asked jokingly as he looked at Steve’s mostly damp clothes.  
“Can I use your bathroom to change? I didn’t want her to wake up and see me half naked… or fully naked.”  
“Yeah go for it.”  
“Thanks.”  
  
******  
Natasha woke up and blinked a few times before the events that had happened came crashing down on her again. She sat up and became aware of her surroundings, where am I? Then she noticed the pain in her hand and looked at her carefully bandaged hand as she inspected it she noticed her sleeve, I definitely wasn’t wearing that earlier. Then she put her undamaged hand behind her hand and felt her delicately braided hair which was still a little bit damp. She wasn’t dirty, she had been bathed, taken care of and placed in a nice bed which smelled like…Steve. Natasha stretched and stumbled out of the bed.  
“I have everything ready for when she wakes up. The soup and tea are simmering so they will stay warm and…” Sam was saying before him and Steve turned to look at the person standing just outside the door of Steve’s bedroom. Steve hurried over to her and helped her onto the couch, he then took the glass of water he had been drinking and offered it to her. She took it with her good hand and drank a little.  
“Sam made you soup.”  
“I’m not hungry.”  
“You have to eat.”  
“But I can’t.”  
“You must.”  
Sam piped in, “You’re telling me I went through all this trouble with the soup, and you don’t want to eat it?”  
“Fine.” She grumbled.  
“Nat. Are you ok?” Steve asked tenderly.  
“No.” She spat.  
“What happened?” Sam asked handing her a bowl of soup. She began to explain who her black widow family was and the events that had unfolded prior to their deaths. She then told them about them dying and raised a spoonful of soup to her lips and stopped talking.  
“Is that everything or just all you want to tell us?”  
She nodded and continued with the soup. Sam shrugged and went back to the kitchen area, “If you need anymore soup let me know!”  
Natasha sat quietly enjoying the soup before a quirky smile started to grow on her face.  
“What?” Steve asked.  
“Where did these clothes come from?”  
“Uh we bought them, in case you decided to come along.”  
“So you, Steve Rogers, went shopping for woman’s underwear?”  
“Um yeah, why?”  
“Nothing.” She said sipping the broth out of the bowl and smiling. “Did you wash me off too?”  
“uhhh… yeah, I didn’t think it would’ve been good…” Steve started.  
“No it’s fine, it’s fine. But I will tease you about the first time you saw a woman completely naked it was to wash blood off your unconscious friend.”  
Steve rolled his eyes.  
“Where did you learn to braid hair like this?” She asked putting her hand on the braid he made.  
“You know what I’m going to go help Sam.” He said as she giggled.  
“Call out if you need anything.” He said as he kissed the top of her head.  
  
*******  
  
After a few weeks Natasha’s hand was still a little sore but overall it had healed quite nicely. She had panic attacks during the night, or even during the day. Steve and Sam could tell she was probably going through some serious PTSD from her experiences with her family. They tried to help by telling her about the ways they conquered (were still conquering?) their PTSD. None of it seemed to help though. One day she had disappeared for awhile and Steve decided to go check and see if she was at least still breathing. When he arrived in her room he went to the bathroom and saw red strands of hair laying around before he saw the entire braid on the floor. He looked into the area with the bathtub and saw Natasha leaned over the bathtub wheezing, unable to breathe from the panic attack she was having. He touched her back and she jolted and turned towards him, revealing her no longer red hair cut short.  
“Oh Nat.” He kneeled down and enveloped her in his arms holding her head as she choked on her sobs. She wrapped both of her arms around one of his trying to get a hold of herself.  
“You don’t have to be ok Nat. I’m here for you. I’ll pick up your pieces when you can’t do it yourself.”  
Nat sniffed and started to sob harder.  
“Shh, I’m here, I’m here.”  
When she got a hold of herself, they stood up and she placed a hand behind his neck and one on his cheek.  
“Thank you. And by the way, I like the beard.”  
Steve smiled softly at her. Her hand shifted from his cheek to his chest and he held her with one hand by the waist and the other her put on the back of her neck and kissed the top of her head.  
“Do you want me to help you get this haircut more even?”  
She nodded quietly and so he grabbed the scissors she had used and evened her hair out. He gave her a hand-held mirror and she stared at her bleached hair while he picked up the strands of red hair and the red braid on the ground.  
“Thank you Steve.”  
Steve nodded and smiled at her softly before he left her alone.  
“Is she ok?” Sam asked curiously as Steve shut the door behind him.  
“I think she is for now.”  
Two days after this event had happened Nat was sitting on her bed contemplating Melina’s words to her in a different way. Never neglect the ones you love. She thought about what Steve had said two days ago. I’m here for you. I’ll pick up your pieces when you can’t do it yourself.  
These two phrases floated in her mind until she decided to do something about it. She got up and walked into the common area.  
“Well I don’t know, maybe we should…” Sam said before he stopped and looked at Nat walking towards the man sitting across from him quite determined. “Uh Steve.”  
Steve turned and saw her and stood up. “Nat?”  
She grabbed his face and pulled his down to hers to connect their lips in a fiery kiss. Steve was caught totally off guard and made a muffled grunt when their lips first connected. Seconds later though he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back with more intensity than she had had originally. Sam just stood there dumbfounded watching Steve and Nat make out. He looked around wondering if he should leave and give them some privacy until Nat broke the kiss and blurted out, “I love you.”  
“I love you too.”  
“No Steve, I love you. Like I am in love with you.”  
“I’m in love with you too.”  
“Wait, you are?”  
“Yes.”  
“Why? You could do so much better than me, I’m so broken.”  
“I don’t care. We’re all broken in some way or another. I love how even when you’re falling apart you still manage to smile and tease. I love how sweet you are, how generous and kind you are. And don’t even think about interjecting with denial. You are, I want you by my side forever. You’re the only partner for me Nat.”  
Nat looked at him stunned, “I never want to leave your side.”  
Sam raised his hands in exasperation, “Well finally.”  
“What?” Steve and Nat said at the same time.  
“What? Don’t you what me! I’ve been watching you fawn over each other since I met both of you. Nat you have a smile, A SPECIFIC SMILE, that you only do when you’re talking to Steve, looking at Steve, teasing Steve etcetera. Steve you have the SAME smile for Nat. When it was Tony versus Steve. You two were on opposing sides, but somehow Steve and Bucky get away. It was because you couldn’t bear the thought of fighting each other ok. Steve, you told me, nonchalantly I might add, that when you first met Nat you thought she was the most beautiful woman you had ever laid your eyes upon. Also when you guys thought you had reached the end of the world on Sokovia, Nat, you stayed by Steve’s side instead of any kind of last minute civilian help or a last ditch effort to save anyone. The only thing Steve looked at in what he believed were his last few moments alive was you Nat.”  
“How, how do you know about sikovia, you weren’t there.”  
“I have my sources.” Sam said.  
“You thought I was the most beautiful woman you had laid eyes on?” Nat asked.  
“Yes and you still are, there is such amazing beauty in your brokenness.”  
“You should’ve told each other sooner, but at least you told each other before we save the world again.” Sam noted.  
“We have to save the world again?” Nat asked.  
“No not yet.” Sam said.  
“Well, whenever we do,” Steve started holding out his hand and Nat taking it, “We’ll be ready.”  
(2)  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading our fic! Please leave kudos and/or comments if you liked it, it would be very much appreciated.  
> ((2) Easy By Camila Cabello)


End file.
